Examples of Transient RC and RL Circuits.

The Series RLC Circuit

Impulse response of RC Circuit.
Lets examine the response of the circuit shown on Figure 1. The form of the source
voltage Vs is shown on Figure 2.
R

Vs

+
vc
-

Figure 1. RC circuit

Vs

Vp

tp

Figure 2.

We will investigate the response vc(t ) as a function of the p and Vp .

The general response is given by:
t

vc(t ) = Vp 1 e RC 0 t tp

(1.1)

If tp RC the capacitor voltage at t = tp is equal to Vp . Therefore for times t > tp the

response becomes

(t tp )
vc(t ) = Vp e RC tp t

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(1.2)

A general plot of the response is shown on Figure 3 for

RC = 1sec, tp = 6 sec, Vp = 10Volts

Figure 3

If the pulse becomes narrower, the value of vc will not reach the maximum value.
By expanding the exponential in Equation (1.1) we obtain,
2
3

t
1 t 1 t

vc(t ) = Vp 1 1
+

+
0 t tp
RC 2 RC 6 RC


When RC

(1.3)

t the higher order terms may be neglected resulting in

vc(t ) Vp

t
0 t tp
RC

(1.4)

At the end of the pulse (at t = tp ) the voltage becomes

vc(t = tp )

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory

Vptp
RC

(1.5)

For t > tp the response becomes

vc =

t tp )

Vp tp (RC
e

RC

(1.6)

The product Vp tp is the area of the pulse and thus the response is proportional to that
area. As the pulse becomes narrower (i.e. as tp 0 ) equation (1.6) simplifies to

vc

Vp tp RC
e

RC

(1.7)

If we constrain the area of the impulse to a constant A = Vp tp , then as the pulse becomes
narrower, the amplitude Vp increases, resulting in an impulse of strength A. Therefore
the response of an impulse of strength A is
t
A RC
vc =
e
RC

(1.8)

Figure 4. Impulse response of RC circuit

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory

The spark plug in your car (a simplified model)

Consider the circuit shown on Figure 5. The battery Vb corresponds to the 12 Volt car
battery. The spark plug is connected actors the inductor and current may flow though it
only if the voltage across the gap of the plug exceeds a very large value (about 20 kV).
R

+
Vb
-

+
vL

spark
plug

Figure 5

When the switch is closed, the current through the inductor reaches a maximum value of
Vb / R . The equation that describes the evolution of the current with the switch closed is

i(t ) =

Vb
L/R

1
e

(1.9)

And the corresponding voltage across the inductor is given by

vL(t ) = Vb e

t
L/ R

(1.10)

When the switch is opened, the current path is effectively broken and thus the time rate of
change of the current becomes arbitrarily large. Since the voltage is proportional to
di / dt , the voltage developed across the inductor could become very large.
As an example, lets consider a system with a resistance of 5, a solenoid with an
inductance of 10mH connected to a 12 Volt battery. How long does it take for the
solenoid to reach 99% of its maximum value? If the switch is opened in 1s, what is the
voltage developed across the solenoid?
The time constant of the system is
L 0.01
=
= 0.002sec
R
5

The maximum current that can flow in the system is

12
A = 2.4 A . The time to reach 99%
5

of the maximum value is given by

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0.99 = 1 e 0.002
The voltage across the coil when the switch is opened is
v=L

i
2.4
= 0.01
= 24kV
1 106
t

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory

Response of RC circuit driven by a square wave.

Lets now consider the RC circuit shown on Figure 6(a) driven by a square wave signal of
the form shown on Figure 6(b).
+

vR

R
C

Vs

+
vc
-

(a)
Vs
Vp

-Vp

(b)
Figure 6

The response vc(t) is given by

t

response = final value + [initial value - final value] e

(1.11)

By assuming that the initial value of the voltage across the capacitor is Vp the response
during the first half cycle of the square wave is

vc(t ) = Vp + [ -Vp - Vp ] e
t

= Vp 1 - 2e RC

t
RC

(1.12)

During the second half cycle the initial condition is

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory

T / 2

vc(T / 2) = Vp 1 - 2e RC

(1.13)

And the complete response during the second half of the first cycle becomes
T / 2
t

RC

RC
vc(t ) = -Vp + Vp 1 - 2e
+ Vp e

(1.14)

Similarly the response during the first part of the second cycle starts with the value of vc
at t=T and evolves towards the value Vp.
If the time constant is small compared to the period of the square wave, the response will
reach the maximum and minimum values of the square wave as shown on Figure 7,
where RC = 1 10 4 sec and thus T/2=10RC.

Figure 7

As the time constant RC increases, it takes longer for the response to reach the maximum
value. Figure 8 shows a plot of the response for T/2=RC. Note that the response does not
reach the maximum values of the input signal and the average value of the response is
equal to the average value of the input signal.

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Figure 8

Figure 9(a) and Figure 9(b) show the system response for RC=5T/2 for a square wave
with a duty factor of 50% that varies between 0 and 5 Volts. Notice that the average value
is reached within a certain number of oscillations and that there is a variation of the
response ripple about the average value. The magnitude of this ripple is inversely
proportional to the time constant RC.
This is the first step that one must take when an AC signal is converted to DC. Next
week, when we learn about the diode, we will explore this circuit further.

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory

(a)

(b)
Figure 9

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory

Second Order Circuits

Series RLC circuit

The circuit shown on Figure 10 is called the series RLC circuit. We will analyze this
circuit in order to determine its transient characteristics once the switch S is closed.
S

vR

vL

R
Vs

+
vc
-

Figure 10

The equation that describes the response of the system is obtained by applying KVL
around the mesh

vR + vL + vc = Vs

(1.15)

The current flowing in the circuit is

i=C

dvc
dt

(1.16)

And thus the voltages vR and vL are given by

vR = iR = RC

vL = L

dvc
dt

di
d 2 vc
= LC 2
dt
dt

(1.17)

(1.18)

Substituting Equations (1.17) and (1.18) into Equation (1.15) we obtain

d 2 vc R dvc 1
1
+
+
vc =
Vs
2
dt
L dt LC
LC

(1.19)

The solution to equation (1.19) is the linear combination of the homogeneous and the
particular solution vc = vc p + vch
The particular solution is
vc p = Vs
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(1.20)
10

And the homogeneous solution satisfies the equation

d 2 vch R dvch
1
+
+
vch = 0
2
dt
L dt
LC

(1.21)

Assuming a homogeneous solution is of the form Ae st and by substituting into Equation

(1.21) we obtain the characteristic equation
s2 +

R
1
=0
s+
L
LC

(1.22)

R
2L

(1.23)

By defining

=
And

1
LC

(1.24)

The characteristic equation becomes

s 2 + 2 s + 2 = 0

(1.25)

The roots of the characteristic equation are

s1 = + 2 2

(1.26)

s 2 = 2 2

(1.27)

And the homogeneous solution becomes

vch = A1e s1t + A2 e s 2t

(1.28)

vc = Vs + A1e s1t + A2 e s 2t

(1.29)

The total solution now becomes

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The parameters A1 and A2 are constants and can be determined by the application of the
dvc(t = 0)
.
initial conditions of the system vc (t = 0) and
dt
The value of the term 2 2 determines the behavior of the response. Three types of
responses are possible:
1. = then s1 and s2 are equal and real numbers: no oscillatory behavior
Critically Damped System
2. > . Here s1 and s2 are real numbers but are unequal: no oscillatory behavior
Over Damped System
vc = Vs + A1e s1t + A2 e s 2 t
3. < . 2 2 = j 2 2 In this case the roots s1 and s2 are complex
numbers: s1 = + j 2 2 , s 2 = j 2 2 . System exhibits
oscillatory behavior
Under Damped System
Important observations for the series RLC circuit.

As the resistance increases the value of increases and the system is driven
towards an over damped response.
1
The frequency =
(rad/sec) is called the natural frequency of the system
LC
or the resonant frequency.
L
The quantity
has units of resistance
C

Figure 11 shows the response of the series RLC circuit with L=47mH, C=47nF and for
three different values of R corresponding to the underdamped, critically damped and
overdamped case. We will construct this circuit in the laboratory and examine its
behavior in more detail.

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12

(a) Under Damped. R=500

(b) Critically Damped. R=2000

(c) Over Damped. R=4000

Figure 11

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The LC circuit.

In the limit R 0 the RLC circuit reduces to the lossless LC circuit shown on Figure 12.
S

vL

L
C

+
vc
-

Figure 12

The equation that describes the response of this circuit is

d 2 vc 1
vc = 0
+
dt 2 LC

(1.30)

Assuming a solution of the form Ae st the characteristic equation is

Where =

s 2 + 2 = 0

(1.31)

s1 = + j

(1.32)

s 2 = j

(1.33)

1
LC

The two roots are

And the solution is a linear combination of A1e s1t and A2e s 2t

vc(t ) = A1e jot + A2e j t

(1.34)

By using Eulers relation Equation (1.34) may also be written as

vc(t ) = B1cos( t ) + B 2sin( t )

(1.35)

The constants A1, A2 or B1, B2 are determined from the initial conditions of the system.

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14

For vc(t = 0) = Vo and for

dvc(t = 0)
= 0 (no current flowing in the circuit initially) we
dt

have from Equation (1.34)

A1 + A2 = Vo

(1.36)

jo A1 jo A2 = 0

(1.37)

And

Which give
A1 = A2 =

Vo
2

(1.38)

And the solution becomes

Vo jot j t
e +e
2
= Vo cos(ot )

vc(t ) =

(1.39)

The current flowing in the circuit is

dvc
dt
= CVo sin( t )

i=C

(1.40)

And the voltage across the inductor is easily determined from KVL or from the element
di
relation of the inductor vL = L
dt
vL = vc
= Vo cos(ot )

(1.41)

Figure 13 shows the plots of vc (t ), vL(t ), and i (t ) . Note the 180 degree phase difference
between vc(t) and vL(t) and the 90 degree phase difference between vL(t) and i(t).
Figure 14 shows a plot of the energy in the capacitor and the inductor as a function of
time. Note that the energy is exchanged between the capacitor and the inductor in this
lossless system

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15

(a) Voltage across the capacitor

(b) Voltage across the inductor

(c)Current flowing in the ciruit

Figure 13

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(a) Energy stored in the capacitor

(b) Energy stored in the inductor

Figure 14

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